White

636,798 people in the United States were counted with the surname White in the 2020 census, making it the 24th most common in the country. That is about one person in 469.

By the numbers

People: 636,798
Rank: 24th
How common: 1 in 469
Per 100,000: 213.1

Where the name comes from

Origin a nickname

As an English surname, from Middle English White, as a nickname for someone with white hair or pale complexion; in some cases from a personal name of the same meaning. See the modern adjective white.

Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who bears the name

How people with the surname White described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:

White, not Hispanic 63.0%
Black, not Hispanic 27.3%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.7%
Hispanic or Latino 3.4%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 1.0%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.7%

Notable people called White

Patrick White (1912–1990)English-born Australian writer
Betty White (1922–2021)American actress and comedian
Ellen G. White (1827–1915)American author, co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
David A. R. White (born 1970)American actor
Barry White (1944–2003)American soul singer
Jack White (born 1975)American musician
Ed White (1930–1967)American astronaut
E. B. White (1899–1985)American author

People named White with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).

Surnames like White

Try it on yourself

Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.